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Nearly 90 University of Scranton students traversed the city Thursday to learn on behalf of their classmates just what the downtown has to offer.

Students from the university's residence life program visited more than a dozen businesses on a Scranton Tomorrow "FAM Tour," or familiarization tour, through Central City as part of their training to become resident assistants.

"It's a fun event, but there's also a deeper meaning in the sense that Jesuit universities are often located in cities," said Julie Schumacher Cohen, director of the office of community relations at the university. "We want to emphasize the Jesuit urban strategy to connect the university and the city in concrete ways."

The tour, led by members of Scranton Tomorrow, was the student version of a public tour that runs the first Saturday of each month from May to October. As RAs, the students will be able to communicate what they learn on their journey to fellow classmates, Ms. Cohen said. The tour also provided a window into downtown business, an aspect with which many of the students were unfamiliar.

"I was born and raised here, and there's so much I haven't seen before," said Jessica Lloyd, a junior from West Scranton.

The students broke into six groups and fanned out across the city in search of interesting sites and stores that accommodate a college budget. After the tour, the students dispersed to 10 restaurants across the city for discounted dinners.

"There's 87 people on this tour ... and even if they all talk to one person, that's over 100 people now who know," said graduate student Joe Scotchlas of Fell Twp. "It's great that they're finally doing this."

Thursday's tour is part of a larger effort on the part of the university and Scranton Tomorrow to enhance the relationship between the university and downtown businesses. In May, the two groups launched "New Tools for University-Downtown Cooperation," a program that uses social media and technology such as Foursquare to familiarize students with local services and promote downtown deals. Nearly 40 businesses participated in the program, 30 of which followed up with the university's Small Business Development Center for a Foursquare training session.

"It's about bringing the students into the downtown and getting them more comfortable and more aware of the businesses," said Leslie Collins, executive director of Scranton Tomorrow. "It's really important to support locally owned businesses. That's what keeps your downtown vibrant and economically moving."

In the past six years, Scranton Tomorrow also launched the Collegetown Initiative. Among the Collegetown projects is "Show It, Save It," a program in which more than 30 businesses offer a 10 percent discount to students with University Royal Cards.

"I definitely think it's going to do a lot for the businesses," said Joann Marianelli Finnerty, owner of Bella Faccias, a company that specializes in personalized chocolate products. "When their parents come in, they'll be in and out. It's more bodies on the road."

For the university, the RA tour marks the beginning in a series of university-downtown relationship-building events. The university will organize a downtown scavenger hunt Sept. 2 that aims to bring students to various businesses across the city, require them to "check in" to Foursquare and receive clues that point them to their end goal - the university's mascot, Iggy. A reception at the Vintage Theater will end just before First Friday events begin at 6 p.m., encouraging students to attend the evening's events.

"Hopefully it'll promote downtown activities," said Amber Cardamone, an area coordinator with the office of residence life. "And create a different scene and a different vibe downtown."

Contact the writer: jklimaski@timesshamrock.com

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